Deal worth considering? (Magnaplaners verses Forte's)

[Coytee]

Someone I spoke to today evidently acquired a while back a pair of Magnaplaners. (I don't know if "that" is the model or if there are other models)

he said they're about 6' tall and each "speaker" consists of three different section, each 6' tall and about 12" wide +/-.

He got them free. One of the speakers (at least) needs new tweeters that are evidently available.

To bring you up to date, he was offered a pair of Forte's as an even swap. Supposedly, the Forte's are pristine and their owner just feels that they are for rock & roll and his tastes have changed.

The Magnaplaners are in his garage, unused, unfixed... BUT, viewed as an interesting piece of his "stuff". He's not sure he wants to spend the time to fix them or not

So... is that an interesting offer? a junk offer?

I've personally never knowingly heard either speaker and if I had, I forget so I'm useless. One thing that I think was viewed as a negative by him was the amount of space the Magnaplaners might take/require.

I told him to get a pair of Khorns & forget it...

Any thoughts on the offer he's received?

[PrestonTom]

An interesting swap. The sound will be quite different.

Regarding the maggies ( I do not know which specific model you are getting). The bad points are 1) the mylar can tear (it sounds like these already have) but it can be patched or replaced (if required), 2) the bass will not match a Klipsch, 3) they require a big amp with plenty of current, 3) as with other panel speakers, they are difficult to position in the room (tweaking in the placement is required)

However, the good points are quite strong: 1) the midrange (and highs) are really very good (certainly different than a klipsch), 2) the imaging, if positioned correctly, is superb.

They are worth listening to but beware of the positioning and amp issues before make a final decision. The sound is different that a Klipsch. They each have their own set of pluses & minuses.

Good luck,

-Tom

[D-MAN]

The Maggies will require alot of power to drive them and need to be placed out in the room quite a bit.

If you can meet those requirements, go for it.

DM

[Deang]

It depends on the model of Maganepan whether fixing them can be done without getting kind of expensive. There are quasi-ribbons and full ribbon models. The full ribbons are pricey. The quasi-ribbons are less expensive to fix, but unless you've worked on them before -- forget it. Most send them back to the factory. Personally, I would trade. In fact, my entry into Klipsch was dumping my MG 1.5QR's for a pair of RB-5's.

[sfogg]

"he said they're about 6' tall and each "speaker" consists of three different section, each 6' tall and about 12" wide +/-."

Those are older models if it is multiple panels per speaker.... some version of the Tymphani I believe. They look sort of like a changing screen... and are BIG speakers.

Keep in mind repair a 'tweeter' on this is nothing like swapping out a driver in a Klipsh. Check to see if the fuse for the tweeters has blown. If you are lucky that is all that will be wrong with them.

Likely the wire on the panel has broken in one or more places. Repairing them involves removing the old wire/glue from the panel and glueing down a replacement wire from Magnepan.

It is also very likely that the glue has dried out on the bass panels and the wire for the bass panels is lifting in multiple places. That will result in the speaker buzzing during music if you turn it up much. Again repair is removing all the old wire from the screens and replacing it with new wire/glue.

Magenpan sells repair kits for these speakers and as I recall they aren't terribly expensive. However it is very labor intensive and if you rip the screen you are in for a larger repair. They will also do the repairs for you but it of course costs considerably more for this.

The glue problem is very common for older Maggies.

Shawn

[Parrot]

Since they are three-panel, I believe they are the Magnepan Tympani

series, which are no longer made. Those are not just any Maggies, which

can go for as little as a few hundred bucks. They could be the 1D. A

friend of mine back in the 1970s owned a pair, don't know which exact

model it was, and I think they were in the neighborhood of $5000. They

certainly monopolized his living room. Spreading them out took about

half the width of the room, and then they were several feet from the

back wall besides.

It appears that Magnepan will repair them for around $1000. Or your

friend could do it himself. I'm sure Erik would say it is as easy as

tying a pair of shoes. After all, NO ONE IS BORN KNOWING HOW TO REPAIR

MAGNEPANS, and if someone else can do it (or brain surgery, for that

matter), why shouldn't anyone else be able to do it?

Here's a description of what's involved:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/MUG/messages/10877.html

[joessportster]

hello the maggies you are describeing are one of there top end pairs although the name escapes me right now, i recall the description from previous times looking into those speakers. as i recall they were also quite expensive to buy, 3 panels per side for a total of 6 panels. They require great amounts of space to use more so than K-horns, and they are extremely power hungry 2 reasons i decided against them. lastly as dean said they are hard to repair and costly to pack up and ship back to the manufacturer for repair. so i would say if your friend got them cheap or free, and has no need for them he should consider tradeing as he would have a nice set of speaks when all is done instead of a broken set that would be costly to repair, and ship out for repair and in the end would have to have an enormous room and a monster power amp to run them Joe

[Sonic Reaper]

If these are Magneplanar Tympani 1D speakers the manual says the maximum recommended power is 150 watts RMS into 8 ohms.

http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/pix/mitchell/index.html

[joessportster]

just because the manual says it only requires 150 watts to drive them doesnt mean that will do a good job, you need tons of headroom to run these speakers properly. i had 2 differant pair of infinity speakers that said they were 8 ohm's, and could run on 35 to 150 wpc amps, however my 200 wpc phase linear, nor my onkyo m504 165 wpc, could drive either pair without clipping because the speakers routinely dropped below 2 ohms, just as all ribbon speakers do (that i have heard of or seen personally) joe

[Parrot]

Yeah, I think I've heard a 400W amp is a good choice, not that you would want to run it full out or anything.

[Coytee]

Thanks for all the thoughts. I'll copy/forward this to him on Monday.

I think he's got the higher end speaker as was referenced above. My recollection upon talking to him was he was invited to exchange a VERY expensive speaker for what I presume to be a much less expensive speaker.

I have no idea if he's terribly familiar with Klipsch or not. I invited him to come here & visit.

When I realized how much flloor space those might require, that's when I suggested getting the Khorns since they will tuck so nicely away and be very unobtrusive when in the room.